The use of a variety of feed means, including friction feed means, to feed cut sheets to the transfer station of a printer in the form of a xerographic copier is of course well known.
The use of combing wheel feed means to feed cut sheets to a printer is also well known.
Since the use of combing wheel feed means, to feed cut sheets to the transfer station of a xerographic copier, is suggested by this prior art, the present invention is limited to various constructions and arrangements related thereto.
With the foregoing in mind, the present invention, without specific limitation thereto, relates to features such as a resilient construction of the combing wheel, whereby acoustical noise in a convenience copier environment, such as a business office, is minimized; a bottom of the paper bin pad which reliably enables the feeding of the last few sheets in the stack; a movable friction pad and second-sheet restraint pad which operate on comand from the copier's logic to close a drive nip, and to hold back the underlying sheets without disturbing their shingled state; a deshingling mechanism which deshingles the stack when a paper supply drawer is opened for reloading; a unitary construction of the combing wheel/drive nip assembly which facilitates replacement or repair thereof; and a pneumatic-to-electric sheet sensor at the location of the open drive nip which operates a combing wheel lowering solenoid so as to maintain the leading edge of the stack's top sheet staged at this open nip, and thereby available for feeding to the copier's transfer station.
The term combing wheel, as used herein, is intended to encompass not only the vertical orientation shown (i.e. the plane of combing wheel rotation is perpendicular to the flat surface of the sheets being fed), but is also intended to encompass a horizontal orientation, or a tilted orientation (i.e. the plane of rotation being between vertical and horizontal). Also, while a circular wheel is preferred, its equivalent may be to support rollers or the like on a flexible belt or chain which does not travel a closed circular course. In addition, while the combing wheel surface, which engages the surface of the sheets being fed, is shown in its preferred form as a hard, friction-free roller, it is within the scope of the present invention to utilize a resilient roller, or a roller having friction, or a nonrotating sheet engaging surface, or combinations thereof.